So I’ve been telling this story about the birth of Mickey Mouse for some time now. See, e.g., my OSCON speech. The story goes like this: Walt Disney was a great creator in the tradition of great creativity: his creativity was to rip, mix, and burn popular culture. Even Mickey Mouse, who was born as Steamboat Willie (released in 1928), was a rip, mix, and burn take-off on Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill (released in 1928).
But I hadn’t realized just how true that was until I opened my very cool set of Disney “Treasures”�a special DVD release of the early Black and White Mickey Mouse films that Disney is now selling (comes in a cool tin case, with a serial number pressed into the tin). The DVD is a great collection of the early cartoons, with some “bonus” features including the script for Steamboat Willie. Here’s a screen shot of the first page of the script. Notice the direction from Walt: “Orchestra starts playing opening verses of ‘Steamboat Bill.'” Try doing a cartoon take-off of one of Disney, Inc.’s latest films with an opening that copies the music, and see how far your Walt Empire gets.
I think this refers to a tune by Fiddlin’ John Carson, recorded sometime between 1924 and 1925. (See here.)
I read this, too, in the book The Art of Walt Disney, where Christopher Finch writes of the first screening: Roy Disney projected the film from outside a window (to eliminate motor noise), while his brother, along with Iwerks, Jackson, Clark, and a few others, improvised their sound accompaniment, live, in another room – all of them working carefully to the beat of the metronome. Jackson played his harmonica (the tune was probably Steamboat Bill) while the others provided sound effects with cowbells, slide whistles, tin pans, and the like.
Did the music also include “Turkey in the Straw” ?
Was the melody “Steamboat Bill” in the public domain at the time ?
interesting…
“Steamboat Bill” the song was really composed and copyrighted in 1910 by Ren Shields and the Leighton Bros. (full names unknown to me). “Steamboat Bill” is itself a close rip-off in theme, structure, and rhythm of “Casey Jones”, published (and copyrighted) by other authors in 1909, and then at the top of the hit parade.
Did Disney pay for “Steamboat Bill”? It not only runs over the opening scene� it’s the tune Mickey whistles distinctly as he turns the steamboat wheel in his first close-up. We actually hear much more than the first few bars.
“Turkey in the Straw”, by the way, is the tune we hear later in the cartoon as Mickey and Minnie pull and tweak various hapless farm animals around in time to the music.
“Turkey” was first composed and published in 1837 by Nathaniel Carusi under the title “Zip Coon”. It was tweaked slightly and published in roughly the version we know it today in 1899. Sheet music gives the 1899 copyright and credit to Otto Bonnell, pointing out that it was afterward transferred to Will Rosalter and then, in 1914, “assigned to” (renewed by?) Leo Feist.
Is Fiddlin� John Carson the same as Johnny Carson?